Lego City Undercover Review

Lego City Undercover is laugh out loud funny, it's just a shame the action
doesn't match up, writes Ashton Raze.

It's rare, for me at least, to find a game that makes me laugh out loud frequently and consistently. The occasional chuckle, sure, but there aren't many truly hilarious games around. Lego City Undercover is hilarious. It's comfortably one of the funniest games I've ever played; from the fantastic opening to the finale, which manages to be one of the best gaming moments this gen. The dialogue is superb, the characters are amazing. Frank Honey in particular is especially inspired; the bumbling partner to maverick protagonist Chase McCain. Then there's the ridiculously overblown mafia guys, the character based on Arnie, the constant pastiche of numerous detective dramas and crime thrillers. The level of humour on display here, and the deftly-written one-liners, set Lego City Undercover apart from its peers.

It's a shame, then, that the rest of the game isn't quite so inspired. The open world of Lego City is wonderful, of course, particularly once you've beaten the game and unlocked all the abilities, but too often the game drags, or the design fails to live up to the narrative direction on offer. Chase McCain, returning from a self-imposed exile, is tasked with re-arresting his arch nemesis Rex Fury and restoring peace to Lego City. To do this, he has to go undercover, learning to pose as a variety of roles, but the structure and design isn't quite as exciting as this should be.

The game's laid out much in the way you'd expect from a recent Lego title; open world, mission markers, collectibles. The missions usually involve going into an enclosed area, many of which aren't particularly memorable, and either solving a number of puzzles or learning to use a new ability you've gained. The problem with these levels is, because there's very little plot development in most of them, the majority serve as extended tutorials for abilities. Spend ten minutes being reminded that you can press A to use a fireman's axe to chop down planks. Gradually get taught each skill, despite the fact they mostly involve walking over a context-sensitive marker and pressing the button prompt that appears.

Some of the levels are excellent, however; the jaunt into Lego City's prison for example, complete with an investigation of Rex Fury's cell aided by a character who definitely isn't Morgan Freeman. Or the museum level, complete with interactive exhibits. The puzzles on offer are pretty simple, much like you'd expect from the Lego games, but it's the visual feedback and affect you have on the world that makes them rewarding.

Less interesting, however, is how these puzzles are often utilised. Rather than always being required to progress, most of the challenges within a level involve collecting enough Bricks to access a Super Build, a function which allows you to build a required item, vehicle or tool. So while you're trucking around solving conundrums, most of the time it's in order to collect a Super Brick to top up your inventory. The problem with this is that most of the time you have way more bricks than you need in the first place, and the lack of required progression in the levels can often make them seem underwhelming, or simply serving as distractions between plot segments.

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The open-world missions suffer from this even more, however. One section sees Chase and Frank demoted to forest rangers, and tasked with spending the next hour helping a farmer by ploughing fields and rescuing pigs. It's an amusing aside, but it goes on far too long, right at the point the plot starts to pick up, and feels like needless, distracting filler. Then there are the driving missions, which are frustrating, awkward jaunts across the city, often in a cumbersome truck. The tendency for the vehicles to flip, requiring you to do the entire section again, is immensely annoying.

Certain puzzles use the Wii U gamepad, allowing you to hold up the pad and scan the game world for suspects, eavesdropping points or collectibles. For the most part, these are pretty basic and underused, and it would've been nice to see a bit more done with these functions, such as a little bit more depth to the suspect scanning. The gamepad also serves as the mini-map, which again isn't ideal, especially in free roam, looking between the screen and the pad just to work out where you're going.

There are plenty of negatives when it comes to Lego City Undercover. Too much filler, awkward driving missions, uninspired levels. The lack of co-op is a serious downside compared to other Lego games too, particularly the fantastic Lego Lord of the Rings. But Undercover still manages to be better than the sum of its parts. It's ridiculously charming and likeable, even when fatigue starts to set in, with a brilliantly-realised cast of characters. It's the open world, and free play, where the game really shines though. The world of Lego City is jam-packed with things to do; free running missions, cats to rescue, secrets to find, pigs to fire from cannons. Once you've beaten the game and gained all the abilities, the sandbox focus offers much more appeal, and there really is a ridiculously large amount of content on offer.

It's a shame the main game doesn't match up to some of the more recent Lego titles, because in certain ways Lego City Undercover shows off the full potential of the Lego license. It's just slightly too bogged down in filler, slightly held back by some cumbersome and awkward systems, and just doesn't quite hit the mark all the time. When it does, though, it's a fun, hilarious experience, worth checking out if you own a Wii U, but not quite on par with the best TT has to offer.